The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for the diagnostic testing of internal combustion engines and more particularly to an instrumented spark plug useful for optically viewing the interior of a combustion chamber of an operating internal combustion engine.
The invention provides an instrumented spark plug system for measuring the thermal profile across a piston surface within an internal combustion engine during normal operation, and includes a coherent optical fiber bundle contained within a specially constructed spark plug, and lens system optically connected to a high speed triggerable imaging infrared (IR) video camera. The system images the piston surface onto the face of the optical fiber bundle in near real time and transmits the images to the video camera, thereby obtaining spot temperature measurements at each engine cycle.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an instrumented spark plug.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for the diagnostic testing of an internal combustion engine.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system for obtaining temperature profile information on a piston within an operating internal combustion engine.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an instrumented spark plug for diagnostic testing of an internal combustion engine.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent as a detailed description of representative embodiments proceeds.
In accordance with the foregoing principles and objects of the invention, a spark plug system for measuring the thermal profile across the surface of a piston in an operating internal combustion engine in characterizing the combustion process within a combustion chamber of the engine is described that includes a specially constructed spark plug containing a coherent fiber optic bundle and lens system optically connected to a high-speed triggerable imaging infrared video camera.